Fifth anniversary of first lung transplant in the Czech Republic
Five years ago this week, Czech doctors at Prague's Motol hospital carried out the first lung transplant in the country's history. Today, the Motol Hospital Transplant Centre is still the only facility in the former Communist bloc which performs lung transplants, and they've carried out a total of 47 in the last five years. Dita Asiedu reports:
Josef Moravec was the first patient to receive a lung transplant in the Czech Republic:
"I was not scared because I was given all the information I needed and strongly believed that it would work out well"
Before Mr Moravec, three other Czech lung patients underwent successful transplants. However, they were operated on in Vienna. Czech surgeons had been cooperating with their more experienced Viennese colleagues for years before starting up their own transplant centre in the Czech Republic. Dr. Pavel Pafko headed the team of doctors which operated on Mr Moravec:
"I felt like any person feels when he does something for the first time. I had already tried it in Vienna but the responsibility this time was much greater and I was nervous, very nervous."
It was not until February 2001 that Czech Health Ministry officials began working on a law on the ethics of organ transplants. In May 2002, the new bill was approved by parliament and later by the Senate. However, it has since been criticised by doctors. Eva Pokorna is the President of the Czech Transplant Association:
"The current law on transplants is in several places very problematic and even contradictory. Some paragraphs can be interpreted in several different ways. Because it's written vaguely, it doesn't provide a good legal basis for the doctors' work."
According to Dr. Pafko, besides a vague law, the biggest factor limiting surgeons is a chronic lack of suitable organs:
"The average waiting period is about 140 to 150 days. There is a lack of donors in this country, so the chance of a patient getting a suitable organ is often limited. 26% of people on our waiting list do not make it and die before a transplant can take place."
But Mrs Pokorna is optimistic. Compared to other European countries, the Czech Republic ranks above the average in terms of transplant history:
"Despite the lack of organ donors, where access to transplants is concerned, then in comparison to Germany, Finland or our post-Communist neighbours, our patients are still better off. But when compared to countries such as Spain and Austria, then our patients wait much longer and sometimes don't make it."
In the course of the last year, Czech surgeons undertook some 330 kidney transplants, 50 heart transplants, about 50 liver transplants, 25 pancreas transplants, and ten successful lung transplants.
